JapanX

Comparison of reverses

Second type

And now the same test for B grade 1st class medals. First type

Comparison of reverses

And now at this A grade 2nd class (second type)

Numeration change Medal of Armed Forces allows to us to shed light on a very interesting issue – was the numeration of nationalist orders and medals continuous or was it “reload” and started from the very beginning after the exodus. Well, according to Medal of Armed Forces there definitely was a “reload” and new numeration Please take a look at this A grade 2nd class medal (first type)

You don`t have this problem with our new ribbon ;)

Now try to guess what is 1st and what is 2nd class…

The reasons for this change are obvious 1) it should made different grades and classes recognizable in the bars 2) it should help to differentiate between A grade medals. Not an easy task without the ribbon Please take a look at these two medals.

And here they are with new ribbons (From left to right) A grade 1st class / A grade 2nd class / B grade 1st class / B grade 2nd class

Second type (1951-present time) The design of the medal was slightly changed shortly after exodus of Nationalists to Taiwan in 1949. Actually the design of the medal stayed the same, but every grade and every class got their own ribbon. 1st class grade A medal retained old white/blue/red ribbon – other medals got their own colors. Most likely the exact date of the change is July 19, 1951, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any documented groups or official documentation to confirm this date. The lower (known to me) time estimate for general white/blue/red ribbon is March 1948. Here we have new ribbon colors for all four medals.

Not really “red”… Looks more like “orange” to me.

And another example 1st class grade A medal numbered 2696

And this is how “red” looks on 1st class grade A medal numbered 7461.

This piece has the number 7969 and same strange orange outer border … What is this? I think this is some kind “non-statutory” mis-coloring that occurred with 2nd class grade B medals in six and seven thousands (and very strange mis-coloring I must add). Of course shades of enamel vary from one medal to another ... Here is a nice example. Three different 2nd class grade B medals.

Official pocket close up

Obverse/Reverse

We see that this piece (numbered 6492) has orange outer border instead of correct red one! This is very strange since official color for this outer border is red! Maybe this is restored piece or simply optical illusion? Nope it isn’t. Here comes another piece (2nd class grade B with correct ribbon) that was issued in 1948 for american soldier that served with MP in China.

Eccentric “orange” 2nd class grade B medal Please take a look at this 2nd class grade B medal (with incorrect ribbon) OMSA photo library.

Here again these “Junior Grade 1st class” (on the left) and “Junior Grade 2nd class” (on the right) No signs of yellow arcs on “Junior Grade 1st class” … I wonder if it was some kind of a strange typo (“yellow” instead of “white”)…

A little tangled description … Especially this part

As we see Peterson didn’t mentioned that before 1951 different classes of these medal have identical ribbon…. Peterson “Senior” and “Junior” grades are ours “A” and “B” grades. A grade 1st class he called “Senior Grade 1st class” A grade 2nd class he called “Senior Grade 2nd class” B grade 1st class he called “Junior Grade 1st class” B grade 2nd class he called “Junior Grade 2nd class” The problem is that official translation of medal classes and grades in english completely concurred with our version But actually this is not the real problem. The real problem is the description of “Junior Grade 1st class” and “Junior Grade 2nd class”. Here it is

And another one

All medals were numbered. Quite interesting that the medal number was replicated on reverse of the bar. Here comes an example.

And here they are in person (From left to right) A grade 1st class / A grade 2nd class / B grade 1st class / B grade 2nd class